Name brand, not knock-off

When I was younger, I would absolutely hate when people said something along the lines of “I am my own brand” or “I am creating a brand.” The phrases drove me crazy, like no, you’re just Bryan, not a brand. Whenever I thought of a brand I would think about Nike, Coca-Cola, Pepsi. In my mind, there were brand names and then there were famous people. I separated those things into two very distinct categories and did not allow any room for overlap.  I did not quite understand what branding was, or how it could apply to a person. I did not think of social media use as a way to brand yourself. It required a few years of thinking at a deeper level (and a lecture from my parents) to understand the importance of creating my own brand.

When I was a senior in highschool Vine was very popular. Everyone that I knew was trying to become a viral sensation by way of a six-second video. I joined the hype.  I made a video or two trying my best to replicate some of the Vine starts that were around the same age as me. Nothing ever came of it. I didn’t have many followers and no one thought I was funny. I forgot about it and moved on. About a year later, I got a call from my dad, and he told me that he had Googled me. I was surprised that he knew how to use the Internet. He said that he was able to see almost everything that I had ever posted or been tagged in online. He said that he came across a video that I had posted about a year ago of me sitting in my car ranting (with two curse words included) about people who are and drivers. My Vine videos had come back to haunt me. My dad yelled at me and said, “Jordyn, you have to protect your brand.” I was very confused. He explained to me that everything that I do, who I am as a person, and especially, the work that I produce and things that I put online come together to create my brand. He told me that employers and other people will look at my brand and use that to decide if I am someone that would be a good fit for the business, organization, or even friendships. I learned a valuable lesson about being my own brand that day.

So what is your personal brand? Entrepreneur states, ”

Your personal brand is how you appear to the world. Therefore, it serves to reason that a strong brand is preferable to one that is unpolished and uninteresting.

Once people know who you are and begin to identify you with a specific area of understanding or expertise, you’ll be well on your way to becoming the go-to person in your niche or industry.”

The article goes on to give a few ways that you can build your personal brand.

1. Understand and be your authentic self

2. Speaking engagements

-“If you’re looking to build your brand, then you should be speaking on a regular basis. Naturally, this will mean developing your communication skills. If you speak in exactly the same manner others do, you will never stand out from the crowd.”

3. Write thought leadership articles and participate in interviews

4. Build your online presence

-“Do you know how you’re appearing and coming across online? This is something you’re going to want to monitor on an ongoing basis, and improve upon whenever and wherever possible.

Do you have social media profiles? If so, are they fully fleshed out with all of your information? Do they present you in the best light possible, and make you look professional? Are you using high-quality professional photography? Are you interacting with others and sharing their content?”

This means don’t be like me. Be better than me and avoid a lecture from Dad.

5. Remain a student of your industry

Knowing how to create a strong personal brand can make you more marketable. When companies are looking for a communication specialist to handle branding for their company, of course, they would want someone who has at least created their own brand. Using your life as an opportunity to build your personal brand can only help you get to the position to where you are working with a company’s or organization’s brand. So how important is branding for a company?

Forbes reported, “Looking out into the world today, it’s easy to see why brands are more important now than at any time in the past 100 years. Brands are psychology and science brought together as a promise mark as opposed to a trademark. Products have life cycles. Brands outlive products. Brands convey a uniform quality, credibility and experience. Brands are valuable. Many companies put the value of their brand on their balance sheet.”

Some brands are iconic. Think about Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, and Apple. These brand logos are very well known and easily recognizable, but branding goes beyond the logos. When you think about these three companies, much more comes to mind. You think about who they are, what they provide, the quality of what they offer. People rarely ask about what these three businesses bring to the table, and proper branding is how they got to that point.

Branding can make or break an organization, and all of the things that my dad told me all of those years ago apply to branding for an organization as well.

Colorado State University does the absolute best job, in my opinion, of explaining the value of a brand on their “Our Brand” page,

“What is our brand?

Communication specialists need to understand how to build and maintain a company’s brand. After building your own brand, and having an understand of how a company’s brand extends past a logo can put you on the right track.